Hadley City Zoning Code
SECTION XIX
Village Center Overlay District
§ 19.1 Purpose.
[Amended 5-6-2004; 5-5-2011 ATM by Art. 18; 5-7-2015 ATM by Art. 26]
The purpose of the Village Center Overlay District is to foster well-planned, compact development in the village center in the Town of Hadley. The purpose is to further develop consistency and continuity within this District in keeping with the existing character of traditional New England villages and the Town of Hadley in order to create a place with a unique and positive local identity, and still provide opportunities for development to expand the town's economic diversity and vitality.
Development within this District should provide commercial, civic, residential uses and public open space within easy, safe walking distance of each other. Vehicular circulation should be safe and well organized, with the use and visual impact of cars minimized. There should be tree lined streets, sidewalks, well-designed appropriate architecture which complements each other and preferably of a colonial style. Property developers are encouraged to provide amenities such as protected open space, increased landscaping, street furniture, public spaces, and greater integration of mixed uses.
The design guidelines for the Hadley Village Center Overlay District provide a detailed listing and guide on what elements and features are recommended and suggested by the Town and adopted by the Planning Board for this District to enhance an overall colonial appearance and be consistent with historical traditions.
The overall intents of this bylaw are to encourage vital, innovative, development projects and uses in the Village Center that:
19.1.1.
Provide for the location of residential and/or a mix of low- or moderate-intensity uses permitted within the Village Center Overlay District. (The commercial uses serve village residents and those in the vicinity, thus commercial and institutional development is directed to this district, so that the more rural areas of the Town's environment and the natural resources are protected and preserved); and
19.1.2.
Exhibit the design features of traditional colonial villages and small towns in New England; and
19.1.3.
Facilitate more efficient provision and maintenance of public services and infrastructure; and
19.1.4.
Blend well with the existing landscape and help preserve sensitive environmental features; and
19.1.5.
Provide an activity center for the town where residents and others can gather, work, shop, entertain and reside; and
19.1.6.
Preserve and restore the overall character of the village center, which fosters a "New England-colonial appearance" and maintains consistency and similarity within the Village Center Overlay District.
Overall this bylaw's purpose is to sustain this District's distinctive character and community identity through careful planned development. Every effort should be made to meet the design standards detailed in the design guidelines to ensure that new development is compatible with the unique characteristics and sense of place within the District. The scale and density of new development should conform to the character of the traditional New England village. |
§ 19.2 Design standards and overall appearance.
[Amended 5-7-2015 ATM by Art. 26]
19.2.1.
New development and redevelopment should use traditional New England village development as a guide when determining the height, setbacks, bulk, and form of proposed structures within the Mixed Use Village Center Overlay District.
19.2.2.
Every effort should be made to meet the design guidelines adopted by the Planning Board to ensure that new development is compatible with the unique traditional and colonial characteristics of this Village Center Overlay District within the Town.
19.2.3.
New development should be designed and built to reflect existing neighborhood characteristics such as shape, height, massing, roof shapes, and door and window placement and proportions.
19.2.4.
Buildings should be oriented such that the principal face of the building faces the most dominant adjacent street.
19.2.5.
The overall form of proposed buildings, such as height, front and side yard setbacks, roof pitch, and length of building frontage should be similar to the surrounding buildings in order to maintain a consistent pattern and texture in the built environment.
19.2.6.
All exterior facades shall have one or more of the following exterior appearances; the method and materials of construction are not specified provided the facade appearance is in compliance with the following definition:
-Horizontal siding appearance | |
-Brick appearance | |
-Textured stone appearance | |
-Prohibited exterior appearances are vertical siding appearance, stucco appearance, plain or painted block appearance, and flat siding appearance. |
19.2.7.
All roofs shall be pitched; minimum pitch shall be three-inch vertical rise per twelve-inch horizontal run. No roofline shall exceed 75 feet continuous run without a break, change in elevation or intercepting roofline. Prohibited roof appearances are flat roof appearance, and roofs with less than three-inch vertical rise per twelve-inch horizontal run.
[Amended 10-18-2018 STM by Art. 12]
19.2.8.
All windows shall provide the appearance of double-hung style, with mullion appearance when possible. Prohibited window appearance is plain glass without appearance of significant interruptions. No portion of this bylaw shall overrule or negate any part of the Massachusetts Building Code.
19.2.9.
All new or significantly modified business structures in the Village Center Overlay District shall comply with the following:
19.2.9.1.
All new business structures constructed or significantly modified (significantly modified shall be defined as: modifications exceeding 33% of the current assessed property valuation) in this overlay district shall comply with colonial-style exterior, roof, and window appearances as defined in this section above.
19.2.9.2.
No new business structure shall exceed a footprint of 12,500 square feet.
19.2.9.3.
Multiple structures with a footprint of up to 12,500 square feet shall be permitted to allow a parcel to achieve percent coverage (see Section IV) according to this bylaw.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Former § 19.3, Roof appearance, an § 19.4, Window appearance, were removed at the direction of the Town. See now §§ 19.2.7 and 19.2.8, respectively.